Thursday 30th December 2021
Another section of the Moray Coastal Trail (12.8 miles).
The weather forecast was for a dry day with the temperature reaching 11°C. That is astonishing for the end of December. Anne, Mairi and I went to Lossiemouth to do another section of the Moray Coastal Trail.
We drove to Forres where we had one of the legendary scones at Mackenzie & Cruickshanks. It is a meal in itself. We then came to Lossiemouth to the car park and wee cafe we had reached on the 23rd of July. We had to walk all the way through the town which was very pretty. I had to start at the end point of the last walk. Anne couldn’t have cared less. This is looking to the Covesea Lighthouse.
The harbour.
This bridge was the first problem of the day. When we got to it we found that it was closed so we could not follow the actual Coastal Trail. There was a diversion set up which added considerably to the distance. We had to walk to the next bridge, Arthur’s Bridge, to cross over the Lossie River.
Anne and Mairi made use of the public convenience. I prefer the great outdoors.
Then we headed out on our diversion.
It took us by these buildings marked on the OS map as ‘Works’. Here we had to come onto the busy main road. Not a safe diversion.
We made a slight error here. We should have stayed off the main road a little bit longer and followed a short extra bit of path through the wood. The detour was very poorly signposted. We did come on this one.
And we finally got over the Lossie River at Arthur’s Bridge.
Crossing the Innes Canal very near to Arthur’s Bridge.
We then got off the road and into the Lossie Forest.
I stupidly made an error here. The map on my phone showed a path leading off this broad track further down and I hoped we could do a wee loop. When we got to the path it was only navigable in wellies so we turned back. That added an extra mile to our day.
We stopped in the wood for our picnic. No hat, no scarf and no gloves. Eventually I had my jacket unzipped! What an amazing day. Isn’t this a jolly little family?!
Our picnic view.
We got on the right track which took as down to the sea. Just before the coast were all these World War Two defences.
I left this picture of Mairi in even though it is fuzzy; its a nice picture of her. She is the best daughter a father could want.
So on our next Moray Coastal Walk we will have to come back from Kingston to this signpost. I hope we do it soon.
Mairi and I went out to see the sea.
Just a beautiful beach of pebbles.
Anne in the distance by the sign!
We headed back past the coastal defences. This is a wee look inside.
We retraced our steps back to Lossiemouth. We took the correct route round the ‘Works’ this time.
Here is why we couldn’t get over to the official trail. It means we will have to redo this one day. It must be very disappointing if you had made this walk a holiday. We at least are doing it in sections and live not too far away.
Anne and Mairi spotted a dress shop and went into it for an age. I sat on a seat cooling down. We got back to the car well before darkness set in.
So now we have done
| 1. Forres to Findhorn | Saturday 14th March 2020 (unrecorded) |
| 2. Findhorn to Roseisle | Tuesday 16th November 2021 |
| 3. Roseisle to Burghead | Saturday 19th December 2020 |
| 4. Burghead to Hopeman | Friday 9th October 2020 |
| 5. Hopeman to Lossiemouth | Friday 23rd July 2021 |
| 5. Lossiemouth to Lossie Forest | today |
| 6. Findochty to Portknockie | Saturday 4th September 2021 (unrecorded) |
| 7. Portknockie to Cullen | Saturday 30th August 2014 |